The Role of Local Artist Management Companies

When you search for artist management companies on
the internet, you come across a wide
variety of different kinds of companies.
Sometimes the business strategy of the company is very
clearly stated on their web page in a couple of sentences,
which can be a good sign that this
company knows what they are doing.
Every company, of course, differs from one another, but
a couple of classifications can be made.
In this text I’ll give a short overview on what it means to be a
‘Local artist management company’.

Local management companies
usually represent an artist in some particular
territory which is often
determined to be a certain geographical area.
This territory can be one country or a bigger area, like
Europe for example, or an area based on the same language group.
The strengths of local managements
are local knowledge of the market,
networks and an understanding of habits, the customs and language of
that particular region.
Local management companies are usually very small
companies with only 1-5 people working in them.
According to statistics, nearly 85% of
IAMA (International Artist
Managers Association) member companies belong to this group.

The way for for a local management to survive
in the business is to become part of a bigger network of
management companies.
Artist representation can be built on
a network of small companies.
However, the
common model is that the artist has
one bigger company acting as a general manager and then the local
managers fill the gaps that the general manager cannot cover.
There can be huge amount of
different variations within the representative
relationships between the artist and management
companies.
But then again, every artist is different and also
the needs for the service required can be very
different depending on many variables.

Every company who is a member of either IAMA or the
AEAA (European Association of Artist Managers) is
committed to follow the ’Code of Practice’ .
This Code sets the rules for the business.
On top of that every artist, general manager
and local manager has to have an agreement
in which they determine the rules for the representation
together.
This seems to be a very simple task to handle,
but in practice there can be many
difficulties along the way.
Many times these difficulties can be caused simply
because all the parties
involved with the agreement
haven’t properly discussed what they have actually agreed upon
together.

The income for local management companies is decreasing
constantly and many wonder
how local managements can
survive in today’s very competitive business field.
In most cases, artist
management is not a very profitable business
and if one wants to make money, this is not the right
field.
In my experience, all of the managers working in the
field of classical music have a real passion
for the art of music and they genuinely want to do
all their best in order to develop the careers of the
artists they are representing.
This is one of the key things that drives all management companies, small or large,
forward.

Olli Brummer has been working as
an Artist Manager at Fazer Artists’ Management since 2009.
Alongside with his artist management work at Fazer,
Olli has been involved in producing tours and events in
Europe and Asia. From 2010-12,
he worked as the Chief Executive of the ‘Music by the Sea’
festival in Inkoo, Finland.
Olli is a graduate of the Sibelius Academy Vocal Department
(Master of Music) and completed his studies in
musicology and communication at
Helsinki University (Master of Arts). Follow Olli on Twitter: @OlliBrummer.

Fazer Artists' Management Inc.,
founded in 1903, is one of the world's oldest artists'
agencies in the field of classical music.
The company is the exclusive representative
of numerous international artists ranging
from celebrated maestros to wonderful young talents.
Today, Fazer Artists Management is the leading artists'
agency in Finland.
The company also organises concerts and tours
in Finland and abroad. Follow: www.fazerartists.fi
and on HELLO STAGE!